Role Reversal
by Talesoftwofairies
Summary: Gray happens to stumble upon Juvia interacting with children, and finds her tenderness captivating.


_Christine's note: This popped into my head one day and it came out so easily! These two practically write themselves!_

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and it's characters belong to Hiro Mashima._

* * *

"Goddamn, it's a hot day." Gray grunted, observing the cloudless sky above the streets of Magnolia.

Gray had woken up late this morning, due to staying just a tad late at Fairy Tail the night before. A tad late being four in the morning. So as a result, he had to trudge through the city midday, during a particularly warm afternoon. Gray squinted up to the sun. He was still a couple blocks away from the guild. He just needed to hold out a bit longer. Gray had to be extra mindful of his stripping habit during this voyage. He knew if he lost focus for just a second, he would instinctually take off some layers to cool off. Which would not be ideal, since Gray already had already gotten enough warnings about walking through the streets naked.

Some giggling to his left caught Gray's attention and he turned towards the source. It was a community playground. There must have been at least ten children who were climbing monkey bars, going down slides, or swinging on the swing set. Gray watched mildly curious as he walked by, wondering how the hell they could run and scream when it was so humid out. He started to turn his gaze back to his path when a flash of blue made him stop in his tracks and do a double-take.

Amidst the screaming children was someone who was certainly not a child. In fact, it was someone Gray's age, someone who was wearing a heavy blue coat with a hat.

Ah! It was Juvia, the water-mage of Fairy Tail. She was currently helping a child climb the monkey bars, smiling widely.

Gray blinked. What was she doing? Was she on a job?

He narrowed one eye. No, that couldn't be it. What kind of mission would require playing with children? Juvia rarely took such simple jobs.

So… She was just playing with the children for the sake of it?

Gray studied her expression. Well. She did look like she was having fun, Gray noted. Juvia was laughing along with the children, playing with them just as if she were one of them.

When Juvia turned to look around suddenly, panic shot through Gray's chest and he quickly dove behind a bush.

Shit, did she see him? Gray peeked around the large shrub. No, she was just turning to tend to another child. Gray sighed in relief. That was close one.

Gray's eyebrows shifted together. Wait. What was he doing? Why did he suddenly jump behind cover as if he were doing something wrong? Now he was hiding behind a bush, spying on Juvia like some sort of creep. What the hell is wrong with him?

As Gray was questioning his sanity, he heard Juvia laugh loudly. He peered around the bush from his squatted position.

Juvia was holding hands with a circle of children, singing some tune and rotating in a circle. Then, at the height of the song they all collapsed to the ground together, giggling.

Huh. It was almost nostalgic, watching kids play. Gray himself didn't get much of a childhood. He was forced to grow up quickly when…. That incident with Deliora occurred. And then, after he apprenticed with Ur, Gray dedicated all of his time to getting stronger. He wouldn't have wanted to waste time playing, anyways. Gray could vaguely recall the time before his parent's demise, when he was still a carefree kid. The games he played with the other children of his village were somewhat similar to what Juvia was doing. The kind of games he would sometimes play with his parents…

Gray silently watched how Juvia interacted with the kids. She was so tender with them. She would respond to each child with a gentle smile and crouch down to speak to them at eye level. They seemed to really like her, too.

Juvia directed a group of them to follow her up the play structure. She sat down on top of the slide and had them to line up behind her. Together the cluster of them slid down, screeching the whole way. Gray chuckled when they landed on the ground in a big heap, laughing wildly.

His chuckling slowly died down as he gazed at the scene. There was something about the way Juvia played with the children that made Gray's chest squirm. It was captivating, how natural she looked with them. He found himself unable to look away.

One of the little boys started to tug on Juvia's sleeve, saying something. Gray strained to hear him from behind the bush.

"…so hot, Juvia-chan!"

"Is it?" Juvia asked the little boy, looking surprised. "Juvia didn't notice!"

Gray frowned. How the hell did she not notice the heat? She was wearing a cloak, for crying out loud.

"Oh!" Juvia said suddenly, smiling down at the group of children that were gathered around her. "Juvia knows what to do!"

"Do what, Juvia-chan?" A little girl asked.

"Are you gonna destroy the sun?" One boy asked excitedly.

Gray watched on as Juvia gently silenced the children and then closed her eyes in concentration. Then, with a burst of power, she raised her arms up and shouted, "Water Nebula!"

Gray mouth dropped and his eyebrows shot up. What was she doing!? She was going to hurt someone!

But then, Gray was caught by surprise. The two columns of water shooting out of Juvia's hands were nowhere near the strength of its usual power. Instead, two tiny water pillars rose out of her palms, sprinkling droplets all around her, much to the delight of the children.

"Juvia-chan is the best!" One shouted, twirling under the drops of water.

The other children soon joined in on the fun, shrieking and running under the cool water. Juvia laughed and directed some of the jets onto the children, gently.

Gray stared at Juvia's smile. This was a side of her that Gray didn't see that often. A carefree, playful version of Juvia. Gray found that he liked this side of her. A lot.

"Juvia-chan," a little girl with brown hair stared up at her. "Did you have this power ever since you were little?"

"Yes," Juvia bent down to the little girl. "Juvia's had this power since she was a child."

The girl's eyes widened. "Would you play with your friends like this, too?"

Juvia's smile faltered slightly. "No… Juvia didn't have any friends when she was young."

"What!?" A little boy chimed in, looking at Juvia as if he were personally offended. "Why not?"

"Well," Juvia looked up, smiling sadly. "Juvia was cursed with rainfall when she was younger. The rain followed Juvia wherever she went, and the other kids would make fun of Juvia and not accept her as a friend."

Gray's eyebrows furrowed. That's right; he remembered hearing about this story.

"It's not raining now!" Another child pointed out. "The sun's out!"

"That's because Juvia's curse was broken." Juvia smiled at him.

"How!?" The group of children asked, now gathered around the water mage.

Juvia shifted to a crossed-legged position, powering down her water jets. "Juvia met her true love!"

A couple of the young boys made disgusted faces and made gross noises, while the others just looked on with curiosity. Gray felt his chest do that squirming thing again.

"What happened?" The brown-haired girl asked. "Did he kiss you?"

"Bleh!" One little boy stuck out his tongue. "That's gross!"

"Oh, no," Juvia denied, face blushing deeply. "Gray-sama broke the curse by defeating Juvia in battle."

Sounds of amazement and confusion resonated out of the children all at once.

"How did you get defeated!?" One voice demanded.

"Juvia was in the wrong when she battled Gray-sama," She admitted to them. "Juvia was trying to hurt one of Gray-sama's friends, so Gray-sama used the power of his bonds and his need to win to overpower Juvia."

Questions rang out all at once, overriding each other. One of them asked why Juvia was trying to hurt Gray's friend.

"Juvia was trying to hurt Gray-sama's guild because she was in a bad place," She told them, looking down at her folded hands. "Juvia thought her old guild would be the only place that would accept Juvia as a rain woman, so she did everything they asked of her. Even the bad things."

She grinned, looking up again. "But then, Gray-sama broke Juvia's curse and Juvia saw the sky! Juvia was so inspired by Gray-sama and his guild that she decided to join Fairy Tail, and then became accepted by everyone!"

"That was the battle of Fairy Tail and Phantom Lord, right?!" One little boy asked excitedly.

"Yes," Juvia nodded. Her smile suddenly fell and she looked at them with a serious expression. "What Juvia did was very wrong, and she regrets her actions very much. She was willing to let the whole city be destroyed, including civilians. Juvia promises to never hurt an innocent person ever again. And Juvia thinks all of you should promise too."

The responses were quite muted compared to the other reactions. Most of them nodded silently, while others quietly said, "I promise."

"Um," One boy spoke, softly. "So are you and your true love together now?"

A bunch of voices lit up, voicing their curiosity as well.

Juvia averted her gaze, blushing. "No, Juvia is not dating Gray-sama."

The children protested immediately, demanding answers. Gray winced, suddenly feeling guilty. Juvia raised the palms of her hands in a soothing manner.

"It's okay!" She assured the children. "Juvia is still very happy to be in the same guild as Gray-sama. She gets to spend a lot of time with him, and that is enough to please Juvia."

"But you said he was your true love!" One of the young girls objected. "Doesn't he love you too?"

Gray averted his gaze at that, feeling his face warm.

"Gray-sama thinks of Juvia as a close friend," Juvia told her. "But Gray-sama does not love Juvia."

The little girl deflated.

"… yet." Juvia added with a wink.

Gray's eyebrows shot up at that.

"Yet?" One little boy asked. "What do you mean?"

Juvia smiled at them with a blush, and then fondly looked up to the sky. "Juvia is sure that someday, Gray-sama will return Juvia's feelings. Juvia can feel it. And she will wait as long as she has to. But until then," Juvia looked at the wonder-filled faces around her. "Juvia is content with just being Gray-sama's friend."

Some of the young voices protested again, and others sounded satisfied. Gray slowly sunk behind the bush again, as Juvia asked them if they wanted to play on the jungle gym.

Of course Gray already knew Juvia's feelings – he would have to be an idiot _not_ to notice it – but, it was… interesting, to hear it from an outsider's perspective. Sure, Gray found Juvia's over the top declarations of love annoying and embarrassing, but when she wasn't being clingy or overbearing, Gray found her pretty nice to be around. And Gray couldn't deny he sometimes enjoyed the attention she showed him. It was admittedly nice to have someone who was always happy to see you and always supportive of you. Gray noticed that he tended to feel more confident when Juvia was nearby. And occasionally, he would get a funny feeling when she was around. But he never gave the sensation too much thought. He was afraid of the implications.

Gray peered around the bush again. Juvia was spinning around with one of the children on her back, who was screaming in delight. She was pretty, Gray had to admit. Probably one the prettiest in Fairy Tail. Not to mention that she was strong. And nice. And she really cared for her comrades.

Gray sighed. Maybe he could stand to be a little kinder to the water mage. Her exaggerations could just be a result of never having proper friends. They were just her way of expressing how much she cares. And well, if Gray was honest with himself, he kind of did –

"What are you doing!?" A voice screamed behind Gray.

Gray suppressed the urge to yelp as he quickly spun around. There was an older woman standing there, looking furious. A small group of others stood a little ways behind her, murmuring amongst themselves and looking at Gray distrustfully. Gray suddenly realized how bad he must look right now, watching a playground of children from behind a bush.

"Uh, it's not what it looks like!" Gray waving his hands wildly, sweating profusely. "I was just–"

"And why are you naked!?"

Gray looked down. Oh, shit.

"Wait, wait, wait," Gray tried to explain to the group of people closing in around him. "I swear I wasn't gonna do anything, I just wanted to watch!"

The blood drained from Gray's face as soon as the words left his mouth. He didn't even have time to block himself before a purse came flying at his face.

An hour later, Gray was sitting on the curb, sulking. During his mobbing, someone had called the Magic Council, leading to a horribly awkward confrontation. It took Gray almost a half hour to convince the officers that he wasn't doing anything weird. Thankfully, no one from Fairy Tail was alerted. Gray didn't think he would be able to face anyone from the guild after this whole ordeal.

"Gray-sama?"

Gray flinched at the voice. He half-turned towards the mage he knew he would see.

"Hey, Juvia."

Juvia was standing over him, eyebrows slightly drawn together.

Gray rubbed his neck. "I'm guessing you saw all of that?"

Juvia looked away, giving Gray all the answer he needed.

He sighed. "Great."

Juvia glanced at him. "Gray-sama really should have just joined when he first walked by."

Gray's jaw dropped. "You knew I was there the entire time!?"

Juvia didn't answer, just wore a vague smile.

Gray groaned, and let his head fall backwards. Add that to growing list of reasons to be humiliated. He turned his gaze to stare at Juvia's upside-down face. She blinked at his intense look. Gray brought his head up and stood, still looking at her..

"I didn't know you liked kids, Juvia."

Juvia immediately lit up, nodding. "Yes, Juvia likes them very much," Juvia gaze floated up into the sky. "Juvia finds it interesting that she does, since children were so cruel to her when she was young. Juvia thinks that maybe she desires that interaction because she regrets having a lonely childhood…"

Gray studied her profile before coming to a conclusion.

"Juvia."

Juvia looked back to the ice mage, with raised eyebrows. "Yes?"

"Do you wanna…" Gray started, rubbing the back of his head and directed his gaze to a spot on the sidewalk. "Take a job with me? Maybe?"

When Gray didn't hear an immediate response, he glanced up. Juvia's eyes were wide, and her lips were parted.

"Juvia can't believe it…" She said softly. Then, her eyes sparkled and she clasped her hands. "Gray-sama and Juvia are going out on a date!"

"What!?" Gray recoiled back. "I said a _job_!

But Juvia wasn't listening; she was wiggling around with heart-eyes. "Oh, Juvia is so excited, Gray-sama and Juvia will be traveling together, fighting together, getting paid together, it'll be so romantic!"

"What part of that is romantic!?" Gray cried, a blush creeping on his cheeks.

As Juvia was getting further in her dreamland, Gray couldn't stop the wisp of a smile appearing on his face. This was so Juvia. Well. She was easy to please, at least. There weren't many women who would gladly take a job as a date. And hey, how many dates would actually _earn_ you money? Gray shrugged.

"Alright, c'mon," Gray said, putting his hands on her shoulder and guiding her towards the guild. "Let's pick out a job."

"Can it be the most romantic one?" Juvia asked hopefully, letting herself be led.

"Sure," Gray gave in, keeping his hands on her shoulders. "It can be whatever job you want…"

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_Christine's note: Hey guys! Hoped you liked it! I really love the idea of a motherly Juvia! And of course Gray being a love-struck dork. I would so very much appreciate if you guys could leave a note telling me what you liked or didn't like about the story! It would make my day :) Thank you for reading!_


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